From the field
Insights
What we've learned building commercial space since 1999. No fluff — the stuff we tell clients on the phone.
Featured · Broker & PM Resources
The History of Mark Allan Contracting: 25+ Years, One Family, and What That Buys You
How a single drive-thru window turned into a second-generation commercial contractor working across Metro Atlanta and the Southeast — and why the story matters to your job.
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Commercial Rentals: Why a Blank Canvas Leases Faster Than a Leftover Buildout
A vacant space full of the last tenant's walls, wiring, and equipment makes prospects do math they don't want to do. Here is how landlords use white box and grey box work to lease faster.
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Process & Timeline
The Demo Phase: What Actually Comes Out of Your Space First
The demo phase sets the tone for your whole project. Here's what gets torn out, in what order, what it uncovers, and how to keep it from blowing your schedule.
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Process & Timeline
Emergency Roof Tarping After Fire or Storm Damage: Why the First 24 Hours Decide Your Repair Bill
An open roof turns a contained loss into a building-wide one the first time it rains. Here's why emergency roof tarping matters, what a same-day response looks like, and what it costs you to wait.
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Process & Timeline
Residential Fire Damage: How to Mitigate First, Then Rebuild
A plain-English guide to what happens after a house fire: emergency mitigation, the insurance scope, and how the rebuild actually gets sequenced.
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Cost & Budget
Tenant Improvement Cost Per Square Foot: Why the Range Is So Wide
A per-foot number tells you whether you're in the right universe. It doesn't tell you what your job costs. Here's what actually moves the number — and how to get a real one.
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Cost & Budget
Comparing Commercial Construction Bids: Why Three GCs Gave You Three Different Numbers
Three general contractors, one set of drawings, three numbers that don't match. Here's what actually creates the spread — and how to compare bids so the low one doesn't cost you the most.
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Process & Timeline
Permitting a Commercial Buildout in Metro Atlanta: What Actually Moves Your Opening Date
Permitting is the part of a commercial buildout most likely to move your opening date, and it works differently in every Metro Atlanta jurisdiction. Here's a practical orientation.
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Process & Timeline
How Long a Commercial Buildout Takes — and What Actually Moves Your Date
A realistic commercial buildout timeline, phase by phase. The construction is the predictable part. Permitting and long-lead equipment are what move your opening date.
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Process & Timeline
What to Expect on a Site Visit: The First Real Step in the Pre-Construction Process
A site visit is where your contractor stops guessing and starts pricing. Here is what happens, what to bring, and how to get a tighter number out of the walkthrough.
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Process & Timeline
What to Send a Contractor: The Commercial Construction Bid Package That Gets You a Real Number
The quality of the bid you get back is capped by the quality of what you send out. Here are the five things to put in a commercial construction bid package — and what each gap costs you.
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Cost & Budget
How to Compare Commercial Construction Bids Without Getting Burned
Three bids, three totals. The differences that matter sit above the bottom line — in exclusions, allowances, scope, and schedule. Here's how to read them.
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Cost & Budget
Tenant Improvement Scope: Who Pays for What Before You Sign
The lease work letter decides more about your buildout budget than the construction contract does. Here's how landlord and tenant scope usually splits, and where the costly gaps hide.
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Ground-Up Authority
What owners get wrong about pre-construction budgets
A per-square-foot number is not a budget. Here is where ground-up budgets actually go sideways, and how to catch it before you commit.
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Ground-Up Authority
Shell vs. full buildout: what a developer should scope to a GC
Where the shell ends and the buildout begins is a decision, not a given. Getting the line right protects your budget and your schedule.
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Ground-Up Authority
Ground-up timeline in Metro Atlanta: entitlement to CO
What actually drives a ground-up schedule in Metro Atlanta — and why the calendar is set long before the first slab is poured.
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Cost & Budget
What a tenant improvement actually costs per square foot
Why the per-foot range is so wide, and what actually moves your tenant improvement number up or down.
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Cost & Budget
Restaurant buildout budget breakdown
Where the money goes in a restaurant buildout — and which lines are the ones that blow up a budget when they are underscoped.
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Cost & Budget
Why three GC bids come back at three different numbers
Three bids, three numbers, and none of them wrong. Here is how to read the spread instead of just picking the low one.
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Process & Timeline
How long a commercial buildout takes
A realistic timeline for a commercial buildout, and the two things most likely to move your date — neither of which is the construction.
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Process & Timeline
Permitting in Gwinnett, Cobb, and Fulton
A practical orientation to commercial permitting across the three Metro Atlanta counties you are most likely to build in.
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Process & Timeline
What happens on a site walk
The site walk is where the price gets real. Here is what we look at, what to have ready, and why it changes the number.
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Broker & PM Resources
What to send a GC when you're requesting a bid
The five things that turn a vague request into a bid you can actually compare — and get back faster.
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Broker & PM Resources
How to evaluate contractor bids
Comparing the totals is the last step, not the first. Here is how to read a set of contractor bids like someone who has been burned before.
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Broker & PM Resources
Landlord vs. tenant scope: who pays for what
The work letter decides who pays for what — and the gaps in it decide who eats the surprise. How to read the split before you sign.
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Call Mark Allan Contracting(404) 724-8709 · hello@macont.com